Gun Control California

As Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer sees it, if a bill now before Gov. Gray Davis had been the law, white supremacist Buford Furrow might have been prevented from killing a postal worker and wounding five people at a San Fernando Valley Jewish community center in 1999. If the bill had been the law, Lockyer reasons, former Los Angeles Police Officer Angela Marie Shepard might still be free instead of locked in jail and facing a murder charge in the Aug.

As the recent spate of mass killings has made clear, even California's much-touted gun-control laws can do little to keep firearms and ammunition away from criminals bent on murder.

Don't call it a "license." Call it a "permit." Better yet, a "safety certificate." With that semantical tweak, you just might get Gov. Gray Davis' signature on what's left of a bill to license handgun buyers.

Guns that are nearly identical to assault weapons banned in California are legal unless they were outlawed by name or have specific assault weapon characteristics, the California Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

Just two hours before shots were fired yet again at a California high school Thursday, the state Assembly passed the first bill of the year dealing with firearms, a measure banning the sale of guns from homes.

California's gun control law appears to have had a moderate impact on reducing additional violent crimes by people convicted of gun-related offenses, public health researchers at UC Davis reported in a new study.

A year after Gov. Gray Davis called for a "timeout" on new gun control laws, Democratic lawmakers are reviving efforts to require the licensing of all handguns in California.

In addition to tackling the state's energy crisis, California lawmakers this year will carve out new legislative and congressional districts, a key political exercise based on results of the U.